Quote of the Day

"We're only here briefly, and while I'm here I want to allow myself joy. So fuck it."

- Amy, Her.

Monday, 11 April 2011

Kapow! Comic-Con: The Full Report

As you should know by now,I took a trip to Geeksville yesterday when I attended London's "Kapow!" Comic Convention. Here's how it went, including some razzle-dazzle photos and a few interesting new announcements:

After an... interesting train ride (which included a chubby man feasting on his nose cuisine.) and consequent tube rides, me and my Dad found ourselves here, at the London Business Design Centre. Awesome Green Lantern poster here too.

Hit the link below for the rest:

But of course, it wasn't that easy. The queue went almost 2 blocks back, and was littered with all kinds of comic, movie and TV fans. Luckily there were people like The Candy Overlord here to make the wait a little more bearable.

So once we're in, I'm instantly greeted by a good ol' T-800 in the IGN arena. Worth £3000 apparently.

An interior view of the rather lavish BDC. It's big, but mayhap a little more space would have been better.

It wasn't long before I checked into the "Millarworld" panel, which all revolved around the projects (present and future) of Mark Millar, acclaimed writer of such hits as Kick-Ass, Wanted and Nemesis.

Pictured here, rather symbollically back-to-back, is the writer/artist team behind Kick-Ass, Mark Millar (front) and John Romita Jr (back), respectively. The panel was a lot of fun, with some good banter among the guests.

First up on the announcement list was Hit-Girl's very own spin-off comic. Based upon the "Little Bitch" from Kick-Ass, the new mini-series is set to solely follow the tales of Hit-Girl. Millar said that "It's all the stuff I wished I could do in Kick-Ass". However, I noticed that it's being drawn up by Leonardo Fernandez, not John Romita Jr...

SuperCrooks is Millar's rather humourous take on the modern day super-villain team. Tired of having their plans foiled by American super-heroes, a group of sup-villains take to a place where there aren't any; Spain. Described as "Oceans 11 meets The X-Men", this is definitely one to look out for.

A pretty hush-hush project now, with Millar's collaboration with the (apparently) huge artist, Frank Quitely. Although no title or images were revealed, Millar said it would be "the biggest thing he's ever done" and that they're aiming for a universe with the kind of depth and scope of Star Wars.

Also announced was a project between Millar and Dave Gibbons, artist of Watchmen. This was very confidential as not even a slide was given on it, due to trademark and timing issues. However, Millar said that it'll be "a deconstruction of the spy genre, much like how Kick-Ass deconstructed the superhero genre." and it'll have a character like no other before.

Andy Diggle, best known for his work on the Losers comic, announced his new project called Snapshot. From what I heard, it's going to be a thriller about an ordinary guy finding these photos of dead bodies which turn out to be assassination victims.

Shortly after the Millarworld panel came the Misfits (and Skins, for some reason) panel. Here is Lauren Socha (Kelly) and Iwan Rheon (Simon) entering to the table.

The two took a few questions after some pretty major announcements about the show. Firstly, Robert Sheehan (Nathan) will not be returning for series 3, for unknown reasons. There will however, be a "Farewell" episode to properly see the popular character off. A new character, Rudy, is currently being cast to fill the space. None of the new powers were mentioned but they made it very clear that Misfits will have a run-in with the Nazis. Can you say awesome!? Plus, Seth the power dealer from the Christmas episode will return and may well have some sort of relationship with Kelly. I guess it beats a gorilla-man, right?

A short vid I took. Sound's a bit crappy...

A couple of enthusiastic cosplayers (people who dress up).

An overview of the showroom floor, after some lunch.

I then went to wander the floor, looking at the various comics that were for sale (Managed to pick up Millar's Civil War, pictured above) and observing some artists at work. Met a few interesting and wonderful people while out there:

Bane's just chilling (before going on to win the IGN cosplay competition).

Me & Supes.

Me & Beast. Turns out this guy runs a movie review website with his wife at hesaidshesaid.com. It's pretty sweet, if you'd care to take a look.

At the TARDIS

Getting my Misfits boxset signed. Sweeeet!

A pic with the guys.

Another view of the showroom.

Some more Cosplayers, waiting for the comp.

Deadpool girl gives me a couple poses.

Unfortunately I missed the actual competition, as I was in a queue to get a couple of books signed by Mark Millar. But for the third time in the day, I was turned away before I got it. GRRRR...

Me & the Standard Stormtrooper. Every convention needs one!

Leaving... : (

My hand stamp. : )

All in all, it was a simply awesome day. The comics, the panels, the costumes: the event was definitely a worth-while experience. Apart from the lack of autographs and the special movie premiere being an 18 (It was Super), I thoroughly enjoyed myself and am hoping to return next year, maybe for the full weekend. Hopefully you've enjoyed the pics and may even be tempted to check the con out for yourself when it comes round again next year. Who knows, I might even see you there!